Editor's ChoiceCategories Credit Type Issuers Blog

Equifax Score Watch Review

08/04/2009

Equifax ScoreWatch

The Equifax ScoreWatch™ is a credit monitoring service provided by equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus. Each bureau, the other two being TransUnion and Experian, have their own monitoring service. And they all come with different bells and whistles. Let’s look at this one provided by Equifax.

Basic Credit Monitoring of Your Experian Credit Report and Score – With this service Equifax will monitor your Equifax Credit Report and Equifax FICO&#174 score. You will get notification of any major changes in your Equifax report or score via email or wireless alerts. In addition, you will get the following service.

  • Detailed explanations for key score changes and specific tips for understanding your score – so that you can take steps to improve your score
  • Explanation of your credit score, comparison to national average with graphs of how lenders view you.
  • Two Free Score Power® reports, plus discounts on additional Score Power® reports – This is a very important point which many consumers do not understand. Basic credit monitoring service is all it is – monitoring. You cannot actually see your credit report or your score continuosly. So for the score watch, Equifax will provide 2 free Score Power&#174 reports. Score Power&#174 Reports is just a term that Equifax uses for their credit report and FICO&#174 score. So aside from credit monitoring, you can actually see your Equifax report and score twice a year. Once you access your “report and score”, you have access to it online for 30 days. So essentially, you are getting 60 days to look at your Equifax report and score.
  • Monthly Fees – The cost for this service is $9.95 a month.

    How Does this compare with other credit monitoring service? – Well, there essentially two types of credit monitoring services. The first type simply monitors just one report (from that particular credit bureaus. The second type monitors all three credit bureaus.

    Comparison with TransUnion credit monitoring service – Experian does not have a single bureau credit monitoring service, but TransUnion does. The difference between TransUnion’s monitoring service and Equifax is that TranUnion gives you unlimited access to your credit report. You also have $25,000 insurance for ID theft. But you cannot see your TransUnion score and you do not get alerts when you score changes. The cost is also higher at $11.95.

    Comparison with 3-in-1 monitoring services – For those interested in monitoring your credit report constantly, chances are that you would prefer a service that monitors all three credit bureau reports. Equifax has their own Equifax Credit Watch™ Gold with 3-in-1 Monitoring, which monitors and alerts you to changes in all three credit reports but not your score. In addition, you will get unlimited access to your Equifax credit report and $1,000,000 in ID theft insurance. The cost is $12.95 a month for this service.

    TransUnion also has their equivalent of 3-in-1 credit monitoring service that comes at a price of $14.95 a month. Experian has a similar deal.

    Verdict – One of the things that I really like about the Equifax ScoreWatch™ is that you can access your Equifax score twice a year (rather for 60 days). This feature is absent for example in TransUnion’s own credit monitoring service. However, I suspect that that those who are really interested in monitoring their credit would want to do so with all three credit bureaus rather than just one. If that is the case, then I would suggest you try the Equifax Credit Watch™ Gold with 3-in-1 Monitoring. It cost a bit more ($12.95 a month rather $9.95) and you cannot see your scores. But for credit monitoring purposes, it is cheaper than the alternatives offered by TransUnion and Experian.

    Equifax Credit Watch Gold with 3-in-1 Monitoring

    RELATED POSTS

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published.


    *


    Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions About Me Disclosure Contact Me

    Newsletter Sign Up

    Name

    Email